Monday, June 12, 2017

Commute death sentence on Lahad Datu 9 to life

June 11, 2017

NGO says many in Malaysia are for the abolition of the death penalty.

FMT LETTERS

By Charles Hector

Madpet (Malaysians against death penalty and torture) is disappointed
that the Court of Appeal chose to sentence nine Filipino men to death
for waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in relation to the
Lahad Datu intrusion four years ago.

This case is in connection with what happened in February-March 2013
when a group, comprising over a hundred people, who were allegedly
followers of self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, entered
Sabah allegedly on a mission to “reclaim” part of Borneo as their
ancestral land.

The Lahad Datu situation saw a total of 68 deaths – 56 from the Sulu
sultanate, nine from the Malaysian authorities and six civilians.

Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh, who chaired the three-member panel of the
Court of Appeal, overturned the natural life sentence meted out by the
Kota Kinabalu High Court on July 26 2016 on these nine men, and
sentenced them to death.

The other members of the panel of the Court of Appeal were Justices Abdul Rahman Sebli and Kamardin Hashim.

It must be noted that in 2016, the trial judge, Judge Stephen Chung,
at the Kota Kinabalu High Court, after hearing the case, having the
benefit of hearing the witnesses and considering the evidence, elected
to not sentence the nine to death, but to life imprisonment.

In his judgment, Chung said there was no evidence that the accused
were directly involved in the skirmishes that occurred during the
intrusion, nor was there proof that they had killed any member of the
security force in cold blood or injured anybody.

He noted that the key persons in the intrusion, such as Datu Agbimuddin Kiram and “General Musa”, were not brought to justice.

“It is indeed an odious task to pass the appropriate sentence on the accused convicted under Section 121 of the Penal Code.

“The offence had badly affected the lives of the residents of Kampung
Tanduo and those who resided in the nearby villages, as well as the
families of the deceased security personnel,” he said.

The nine were as such sentenced not to death, but to life imprisonment by the High Court.

Of note also is the fact that six or more of these persons elected to
plead guilty after the High Court asked 19 of the 30 persons charged to
enter their defence after the prosecution managed to establish a prima
facie case.

The plea of guilt is generally taken as a mitigating factor when it comes to sentencing.

It was also reported that the lawyer representing these accused
persons who pleaded guilty also told the court that his clients had been
promised jobs and identity cards by their leader, General Musa, the
chief of staff of Datu Agbimuddin Kiram, who was a brother of the
self-styled Sulu Sultan.

It was also reported that “although they admitted to being members of
a terror group, known as the Royal Sulu Force (RSF), they were not
involved in its militant activities.

He said this was consistent with their statements recorded
individually before a Sessions Court judge in Lahad Datu shortly after
their arrests sometime in March 2013.

It must be pointed out that even though they may all be convicted of
the same offence, when it comes to sentencing, the court is duty bound
to consider the evidence adduced against each and every individual in
determining the appropriate sentence for each of them.

As such, the observation of the High Court that there was “no
evidence that the accused were directly involved in the skirmishes that
occurred during the intrusion, nor was there proof that they had killed
any member of the security force in cold blood or injured anybody” is
most relevant.

The atrocity of the incident itself, which involved over 100 persons,
should never be sufficient to justify the imposition of an unjust
sentence, especially the death penalty, on the few individuals who were
caught, charged, tried and convicted.

Further, it must be reiterated that the death penalty has been shown
to have no deterrent value on crimes, and vice versa, there has been no
proof showing that the death penalty does in fact deter crime.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman, the de
facto law minister, during the parliamentary session on Nov 2 last year
clarified that Malaysia was looking at the mandatory death penalty.

They were considering possibly replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment.

This fact also makes this recent decision of the Court of Appeal to
impose the death penalty unwelcome, coupled with the fact that many in
Malaysia are for the abolition of the death penalty.

As such, Madpet calls for the death sentence imposed on the nine to be commuted to imprisonment.

Madpet reiterates its call for the abolition of the death penalty,
and that there be an immediate moratorium on all executions pending
abolition.

Charles Hector is coordinator of Malaysians against death penalty and torture (Madpet). - FMT News, 11/6/2017

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